At Ubuntu Pathways, we have spent the past 24 years breaking the cycle of poverty in our community of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), South Africa. Through our comprehensive system of education, health, and household support, we are placing 2,000 orphaned and vulnerable children on a pathway out of poverty, from cradle to career. Shifting away from traditional development models that fail to address the compounding burdens of poverty, we have pioneered a community-led, holistic approach that takes children and families from vulnerability to stability and success. Our theory of change is rooted in four guiding mandates: committing to a lifetime of change; focusing on lives transformed, not lives touched; trusting those closest to the problem to create the solution; and investing in an institution that will stand the test of time. Read more

The Ubuntu Campus, located in the heart of Gqeberha’s Zwide township, embodies this approach and houses an array of world-class resources––the region’s only state-of-the-art paediatric and HIV/TB clinic, an early childhood development centre, a vocational training hub, a community theatre, eco-friendly solar technology, and an independent primary school. We are working to build and launch a new junior high school that will open in 2023 and a high school that will open in 2025 as the final step in our educational pathway.

100% of Ubuntu’s clients are Black South Africans. Our clients face deeply rooted barriers to academic, vocational, and ultimately financial success. Unable to find employment, most of our clients derive some or all their income from a child support grant or similar government funding. Our young clients who attend local public schools are estimated to gain only half a year of instruction for every year spent in school, thus falling behind a complete grade level every two years. Further, our assessments have revealed that one in three of these children have been physically or sexually abused while in school. Those individuals who do find employment may be the sole breadwinners for as many as 19 individuals in their households. Survival is a struggle for many of our clients, and prosperity nearly unimaginable.

While our constituency ranges in age across all stages of life—from newborn and toddlers to school children and young people, to parents and elderly caregivers—our programming places a particular focus on children and young people. We believe that a child deserves the same thing no matter their birthplace: everything, every day. We strive to provide this to each of our clients through our full spectrum of health care, household stability, and educational services.

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ubuntupathways.org
Registered Charity No: 1103749